Ivan Fallunovalot ran like a horse on a mission Saturday in the Hot Springs Stakes at Oaklawn Park and on Sunday his urgency sadly became clear: His trainer, W.T. “Tom” Howard died later that evening, according to an announcement from Oaklawn. Howard died after a battle with cancer, according to a press release. He was 70. Ivan Fallunovalot needed a first- or second-place finish to go over $1 million in career earnings Saturday. Reaching that milestone with the former claimer-turned-graded-stakes-winner was a longtime stable goal, according to Howard’s wife, the retired jockey Kathy Moore Howard. Ivan Fallunovalot set quick, determined fractions in the Hot Springs and fought on to the very late stages to finish third in a six-furlong race won by Whitmore in a blazing 1:08.57. Howard, who has a stable based at Oaklawn, died at his home in Hot Springs, Ark., according to the press release. Howard is from a racing family and trained briefly in the 1970s. He resumed that career in 2003 after spending the bulk of his time working for such noted trainers as Bubba Cascio, Sam David Jr., Cole Norman, Gene Norman, and J.J. Pletcher, the father of Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher. Howard primarily raced in the Southwest market, basing himself at Oaklawn, Louisiana Downs, Lone Star Park, and Remington. His most prominent stakes winners were Ivan Fallunovalot, who won the Grade 3 DeFrancis Memorial Dash in 2016 at Laurel, and Rocket Twentyone, who won the Grade 3 Arlington Washington Lassie in 2011 at Arlington Park. Howard’s brother, Sam Howard, bred and raised Moon Lark, a world champion Quarter Horse who won the All American Futurity in 1978. Tom Howard said in a 2006 interview with Daily Racing Form that he waited to go back out on his own again for a couple of different reasons. "First of all, it's not an easy endeavor," Howard said. "It's a team effort, and you have to have [the] backing of people who will stick with you, and I'm fortunate to have run across the right people at this particular time." Howard’s first win upon his return came in 2004 at Louisiana Downs. From that point forward his small public racing stable won 148 races from 1,122 starters for stable earnings of $3.8 million, according to Daily Racing Form statistics. A celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Gross Funeral Home in Hot Springs, Ark. It is located at 120 Wrights St., Hot Springs, Ark., 71913. There will be a visitation at the same location Tuesday. It will run from 5-7 p.m. Central.